The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-06-16
THE SPHINX.
= Human-Headed Lion God AL
ways q Marvel


Byths ordinary traveller, the Sphinx
hs ior long been looked upon as one
| 4 the wonders Of the world; silently it
i stood there chin-deop in sand, gaz-
h Win 9 far-away look in its eyes,
Ia Il would probe the very depths of
asnity. As one gazes up into its
vs,sher.beaten, time-worn face, one
lnp ior 1t to be able to speak and tell
Ind It's history, who formed it, and
III. To-day, the energy of French
nsineers is endeavoring to solve, in
~ Tie question. M. Grebaut, the
raent keeper Of Antiquities at the
bnlsk Museum. has been struggling
s,IAatly to disinter it from the sand,
xhich has buried it almost to the throat.
Al day long Arabs are employed load
hg trucks with the sand, which they
hing up u buckets to the tramway
tkeve them. This is not the first at
tempt which has been made to uncover
Aiseolossal salmonument of Egyptian an
iguity. Thothmes Nv. cleared away the
|and; but by the fourteenth century B.
Ia i Was buried to the chin; in 1917,
|Sgnor Caviglia brought to light the
fightof stone steps, forty feetin width,
dscribcd BY Pliny; and in 1869. at the
line q the opening of the Suez canal,
lae great Sphinx was cleared of sand
star as the plateau upon which the
paws rest Excavations southwark are
3 progress, the result of which will
how whether the assumption that the
sphinx stands in the middle of a huge
snphitheater hewn by man out of liv-
ng rock. be true or not.
We 60 below the level OF the present
mund-for the steps lead down, not
apso the Sphinx-to gaze at the bat
mod monster, and are astonished at
= proportions The human-headed
aan god, the impersonation of the sun
Rrest, Is upwards of one hundred feet
9 height and one hundred and ninety
hst N length. From west to east he
aes N . straight line with Khafra's
fIraInid, his face being towards the
sast His enormous paws, partly
hollow, have been restored in Roman
anes and are well nigh covered with
e e scribbles Of Greek travellers, who,
as Tom Jones and John Brown Of
= asse niueteenth-century days, have felt
Incumbent upon them to leave the
, ss!ncfials Of their visit behind them.
= ! sas space between the paws. which
snlrty-6ve feetlong and ten feet wide,
e Mar stands; originally, there was q
. @ail sanctuary here. lined with votive
y .e'ess but only the stella Of Thothmes
=. nov remains.
,lree temples encompassed the
g Isalx-one to the north, dedicated te
: s. which we know, from an inscrip.
~ xas still used in the sixth century
! : = one Psametik, who was son o.
Is ssaaof' the son Of Noferabra, was ther
i: - prophet of Hormakhu,n and o,
!. - !. vaeen Of the Pyramids, and Offered
3nsn holy incense. A second stoot
70 the south side. wherein Osir;,
~ 49, ne king Of the underworld, wa!
asssl 10y invoked by the pilgrims wht
-sG Q his worship. The space al
..l,.s s nere was once . vast metropolis
1. 49, u the hieratic writings ..Ro-set,
eoof Of the death-underworld, ans
suange stories are told Of thi
S,,s s1naanted. enchanted region. Tn
q ample IS dedicated to Hormakhu
ephinx himself.
,..s, IS age Of the Sphinx It seems i'm
s... sae 20 know; but we gather that
s,.saclng in the days Of Khufu, iron
snorial tablet which speaks Of tn
:. i q Tor there we learn that ..He
ing ..lng hor, King Of the upper an,
efss ontty ! Khufu. he, the dispense
IA aI J0e'd . sanctuary Of the GOODIES
g 80 queen Of the Pyramid. beside
d. .nple i Of the Sphinx. northwes
Asle - temple and the city of Osiris
NJ ~ \: y the abodes Of the dead. 81
Pyramid (that Of the Lights